1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to area estimation systems, area estimation methods and area estimation apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an increasing number of corporations have introduced a system called a “free address office.” In this system, the users have no fixed seats, and select their seats according to the contents of their tasks or the like.
In such office, there has been a problem of a deterioration in an operation efficiency, since the location (whereabouts) or circumstances of a user is hard to be grasped and thereby discouraging the smooth communication between the users.
In order to solve the above problem, sharing and utilizing presence information, which represents the location (area) and circumstances of a user, has been considered.
The efficiency in the communication and the operation in the office may be improved by a service such as: confirming presence information of other users; providing contact means such as e-mail and telephone in accordance with the presence information of the other users; reminding that a certain user returns to his/her seat; and the like.
In the office, a relationship between the location (area) and circumstances of a user is often fixed as in “a meeting room=in meeting” and “his/her seat=working at his/her desk”, and therefore the presence information of a certain user can be estimated by specifying the user's location (area).
An area estimation apparatus has been known as a method for estimating a user's area. In a space equipped with a wireless LAN, the area estimation apparatus learns in advance a radio signal reception level from each access point of the wireless LAN, while the reception level is measured by a wireless LAN device or the like held by a user, and then estimates the user's area by using the learning result, (see “A New Location Detection Method Adopting Learning Algorithms” (NTT, Tomoaki Ogawa, Shuichi Yoshino and Masashi Shimizu, the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, Shingakugihou NS2002-79) and WO2004-008795).
Moreover, another area estimation apparatus has been known which estimates the location of a wireless LAN device held by a user and thus determines the location (area) of the user, by using the radio signal reception level measured at a wireless LAN base station.